Malacoturnix superciliosus (Mountain Quail)
1801 to 1825
Medium
hand-colored lithograph
Dimensions
sheet: 37.8 × 56 cm (14 7/8 × 22 1/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. George Benjamin Green
Accession Number
1970.25.3
Art Historical Context
This hand-colored lithograph of the Quail, created by John Gould and H.C. Richter between 1801 and 1825, exemplifies the era’s growing fascination with natural history illustration. Gould, a prominent British ornithologist and artist, collaborated with Richter to produce precise depictions of birds that served both scientific documentation and aesthetic appreciation. The medium of lithography, still relatively new at the time, enabled detailed reproductions that were then meticulously hand-colored to capture the subtle plumage and features of the species. Measuring 37.8 by 56 cm, the print hi...
About the Artist
John Gould and H.C. Richter
John Gould (1804–1881) and Henry Constantine Richter (1821–1902) formed one of the most productive and celebrated partnerships in the history of natural history illustration. Gould, an English ornithologist and publisher of extraordinary ambition, built a career on the production of lavishly illustrated folio volumes documenting the birds of Britain, Europe, Australia, Asia, and the Americas. Thou...